Investing in Australian Aboriginal Art

by Joel Blackbourne

If you are planning to collect Australian Aboriginal art for investment purposes, you could not have picked a better time. Collectors are just beginning to take notice of the unique value of Australian aboriginal art. In 2005, two of the most significant Australian paintings by Clifford Possum Tjapaltijarri - the father of the Western Desert Art movement - left Australian shores at the bargain price of $350,000 each.

Many Australians are lamenting that these paintings aren't kept in Australian hands, particularly because Australian art institutions aren't as well heeled as the art collectors in the U.S. and Europe, whose currency are considerably stronger..




It is likely though that the two seminal paintings will return. Wealthy Australians have been known to bid for these pieces back.

Of course, Aboriginal art should not be only viewed as a piece of investment, like stocks, or bonds. The colours of a typical Western Desert Art is very classy, and complements and accentuates modern decor. Then there is the conversation value of owning a piece of art whose tradition lies unbroken for 60,000.

Desert art originates from the aborigines who lived in the desert (as distinct from the coastal aborigines). Desert art were not painted on canvas, but were traditionally painted on the ground, cave walls, as well as other objects like weapons (rjuringa) and plates. These original motifs have been transferred into acrylic on canvas.

The artworks are not like landscape paintings, or portraits. Australian Desert art can be abstract renditions of epic tales, known as Dreamings. Other art pieces follow the tradition of drawing maps to mark important food locations, or sources of water and other religious sites. Encoding these knowledge makes the difference between survival and a quick death in an otherwise barren desert. Sometimes, the lines between religion and map-making are blurred, as Dreamings tell of spiritual beings who descended from the heavens and created kangaroos, goannas and other sources of food and nourishment. Some artworks that can be purchased now are still painted by aborigines living in desert townships. Australian Aborigines no longer live their original nomadic existence, their original survival skills in the desert lost when European settlers rounded them up and settled them in unfamiliar towns, and prevented them and their children from going back to their original habitats. The crucial skills and deep knowhow of the key locations are long gone. With the passing of the original settled generations around 60 years ago, Australians have lost 60,000 years of collective knowledge. The survival skills are not entirely lost of course, and the aborigine could still out-survive the average Australian in the arid desert.

Fortunately, Luckily for art lovers, the aborigines' art have not died, but instead have flourished and artists like Ronnie Tjampitjinpa and Ronta Linghting are now enjoying recognition beyond what they could have imagined in their little dusty towns.


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About the author:
Joel Blackbourne is a spokesman for the Australian Aboriginal Art Gallery (http://www.aboriginearts.com). Desert art is one of the oldest styles of abstract art in the world, and is enjoying a resurgence in interest among collectors of these unique paintings.





Published at Dec, 06 '06 , Read 1137 times.

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